Weedless bait



Nov. 27, Y 1951 D, NUDELL 2,576,552

WEEDLESS BAI'I"- Y Filed Oct. 30, 1947 Patented Nov. 27, 1951 UNITEDSTATES- PATENT oFElcE WE-EDLESS- BAIT Dewey Nudell, Flint, Mich.

Application October 30, 1947, Serial No. 782,977 1 claim. (ol. 43-35) IThis invention relates to an artificial bait and more particularly tothat type of bait commonly referred to as weedless bait. It is an objectoi this invention to provide an artificial bait in the form of a plughaving hooks thereon which are normally enclosed and shielded by thebody of the plug and therefore unlikely to become entangled with Weedsand the like as the baity is actuated through the Water.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of means forpivoting the hooks out- Wardly of the body of the bait whenever a fishstrikes the bait from any angle. That is to say, the hooks are actuatedoutwardly of the body by the drag produced on the body by a fishstriking it rather than by mechanical means on the surface ofthe plugwhich have to be struck by the fish in order to actuate the hooks.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of means forautomatically returning the hooks to the shielded position whenever thedrag on the body of the bait is released so that if a lish strikes thebait and is not hooked for some reason the hooks will automatically re'-turn to their shielded position and the bait still possesses theattributes of thev weedless bait.

A further object of the invention is to position hooks on the body ofthe bait such that a fish striking the bait Will be hooked irrespectiveof the angle at which it strikes and irrespective of 4.

the portion of the bait which it strikes.

Other objects and improvements will become apparent from the followingdescription and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side View of the bait showing the p hooks in the shieldedand extended positions.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross section of the bait shown in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in Figure 2.

Figure 4' is a sectional View taken along line 4--4 in Figure 2 showinga manner in which the hooks are pivotally secured to the body of thebait.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 in Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 in Figure 2.

Figure '7 is a sectional view taken along line 1-1 in Figure 2.

Figure 8 is a perspective View of a portion of the hook actuationmechanism.

Referring nowto the drawings, and particubait, commonly referred to as aplug, embody-lv ing the present invention.. The plug preferablycomprises a head portion I0 and a body portion l2 `Which when joinedtogether and actuated through water simulate a moving fish whichattracts larger sh.. The plug is preferably circular in cross sectionand is provided with various means to impart a zig zag movement to theplug under water.A These means may be in the form of upwardly inclinedgrooves i4 at each side of head I0 and a curved spoon I5 projecting fromthe lower iront end ofthe head. The present invention is notl directedto the external contour of the plug, however, and accordingly the plugmay be of any shape desired which will attract sh and induce them tostrike.

Head I0 and body I2' are connected together by means of an actuator armI6" which extends axially through the head andis fixed thereto by a pinI8. Arm I6 is non-circular in cross section and, as is more clearlyshown in Figure 2, is preferably in the form of a hat metal strip havingan eyelet 20 at its front end for attaching a fish llne- 22 to the plug.The rear portion of arm I6- extends through an axial hole 24 in the bodyl2. At its front end. the body l2 is covered by an end plate 26 which isfixed to the body by screws 28. Arm I6 extends through an aperture 3i)in plate 26 which conforms in shape to the cross section of arm I6 so asto prevent rotation of the head and body relative to each other. Acompression spring 32 eneircles the portion of arm I6 within body I2with its front end bearing against'l plate 26 and its rear end against ashoulder 34 on arm II so as to urge head IIl and body l2 towards eachother. Spring 34 is rather sensitive so that if a fish Strikes the bodyf2 while the bait is being pulled through the water the spring will becompressed and the head and body portions will be separated. That is tosay, spring 34 is suiliciently resilient so that any drag on the body I2caused by a fish striking it will permit arm I6 to move outwardly of thebody.

The rear portionof body I2 is slotted longitudinally through the centralportion thereof as at 36. Slot 36 communicates withy hole 24. A pair ofhooks 38 are pivoted in the body I2 within slot 36 on a pin 40 whichextends transversely through the central portion ofthe body at theforward end of the slot. Pin 4Q also extends through longitudinal lslots42 in a .pair of transversely spaced brackets 44 which form a yoke atthe rear end of arm I6. I Hooks'3-g are L-shaped having comparativelylong leg portions 45 adjacent the hook end and shorter leg portions 48adjacent the pivoted end. Brackets 44 are pro-5 vided at their upper andlower edges with pairs of longitudinally spaced shoulders 50 and 52between which the shorter leg 48 of hooks 38 extend. Hooks 38 areloosely pivoted on pin 40 so that when yoke 44 moves forwardly on pin 40shoulders 50 abut against the leg portions 48 and pivot the hooks inopposite directions outwardly of body I2 to the position indicated bybroken lines 54. Likewise, when yoke 44 travels rearwardly in slot 36the hooks are engaged by shoulders 52 and pivoted so that their hookends 5B are disposed in crossed relation at the rear end of slot 36. Theextent of axial movement of yoke 44 within body I2 is controlled by thelength of slot 42 and4 shoulders 59 and 52 are arranged such that thehooks 38 are pivoted to thev respective positions shown when yoke 44moves from one axial extremity to the other.

In operation, when the plug is drawn through thewater the hooks remainin' the shielded'position since spring 32 is 'strong enough to resistthe pull of 'the'line 'on the head lil-of the plug.

Body' l2 preferably has' a smooth outer contour so that no obstructionsare provided which might engage with weeds or the like in the water andthereby actuate hooks 38. However, when a fish strikes the body I2 atany point it will necessarily exert a'drag `on the line which compressesspring 32 and causes the body I2 to slide rearwardly on arm I6. Hooks 38Iare thereby engaged by shoulders 59 andpivoted outwardly to snag theiish. If for some'- reason a sh strikes but releases the bait beforebeing hooked, spring 32 urges thehead Ill and'body l2 together again andin so doing the hooks are engaged by shoulders 52 and pivot'ed to theirshielded position within slot 36.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a weedless bait which issimple but nevertheless very effective. Whenever a iish strikes the baitand offers any resistance to the pull of the line, the head and bodyportions of the ,bait are separated and the hooks automatically swingoutwardly from their shielded position to snag the iish. The hooks areAactuated in this manner irrespective of the angle from which the. iishstrikes and regardless of what part of the body the iish strikes. Itwill also be observed that by arranging the hooks so as to pivotoutwardly towards'the center of the bait, a iish striking any `A.partof.l the body will become entangled with the hooks. I y

claim: ,n An artificial bait comprising an elongate body having alongitudinally extending slot at its rear end and a bore Iat its frontend communicating 4 with said slot, a pin fixed on said body andextending transversely across said slot in alignment with said bore, apair of hooks each having a hook portion at one end and being pivotallysupported at the other end on said pin, said hooks each being bent at apoint intermediate said hook portion and said pivotally supported end toprovide a pair of angularly related leg portions on each hook, saidhooks being normally disposed in anl inoperative position withintsaidslot with the leg portions adjacent said pivotally supported endsextending from said pin in diverging directions generally transverselyof the axis of said bore and with the other leg portions extendingfroml-said points of bending in converging directions and crossing eachother at a point intermediate the-.ends of said other leg portions,

an actuator movably mounted in said bore and having a frame at the rearend thereof disposed within saidl slot, said frame slidably engagingsaid p in and having a pair ofmopenings therein aligned in a directiontransversely of the longitudinal axis of saidactuator, said leg portionsadjacent said pivotally supported ends of said hooks 'extending one eachthrough said openings and being slidablyengaged with the edges of saidopenings such that, when said actuator is shifted in afdirectionforwardly of said body, said leg portions adjacent said pivotallysupported ends of said hooks are pivotally actuated on said pins fromsaid inoperative position to an 'operative position wherein they divergeto a greater extent than in said.inoperative position'gandfwherein saidleg portionsadjacent said hook portions are pivotedoutwardly of saidslot, and a spring member on said actuator positioned within said boreand tending to shift said actuator in a direc.- tion.rearwardly of saidbody.

' y DEWEY NUDELL.v

REFERENCES CITED 'v Thel following references are of record'in the leof-'this patent: A A

' 'UNITED STATES PATENTS Number p Name v v Date 463,519 Lagerstedt NOV.17, 1891 1,385,536 Gleason July 26, v1921 1,430,642 Gross Oct. 3, 19221,639,766 Fisher Aug. 23, 1927 1,994,878 Smith Mar. 19, 1935 l FOREIGNvPATENTS Number Country Date

